The U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs was hit with a lawsuit filed in federal court on behalf of seven veterans who allege they have waited more than two years for military medical records they need to file for disability benefits. [more]
Released 4/21/15 | Tags:
The Department of Veterans Affairs continues to flat-out ignore requests for medical records.On Monday, seven veterans decided to put an end to the wait and filed suit against the VA for unreasonable delay in accessing their medical records. Their requests, initiated over 300 days ago, are still pending. One of the veterans has been waiting 800 days, Military.com reports. [more]
Released 4/21/15 | Tags:
Seven veterans from across the country have sued the Veterans Affairs Department claiming the agency has unlawfully ignored requests for documentation necessary to obtain disability benefits. [more]
Released 4/21/15 | Tags:
Seven disabled veterans who say they have waited hundreds of days to see their medical files are suing the Veterans Affairs Department over the delay, saying it already has potentially cost them thousands of dollars in payouts. The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is the latest in a series of legal actions against VA leaders over how disability claims are handled. [more]
Released 4/20/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
Seven disabled veterans have filed a lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs, claiming they have been waiting for their medical records for 10 months to more than two years, potentially delaying crucial benefits. The suit was filed Monday by the National Veterans Legal Services Program on behalf of the veterans, who come from across the country. Filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the suit asks that the VA produce the plaintiffs’ records within 20 days. [more]
Released 4/20/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
A veterans' organization and a public advocacy group filed suit in federal court on Monday against the Veterans Affairs Department, claiming the agency has kept some veterans waiting longer than two years for records needed to apply for benefits. "Veterans who have been injured and disabled in combat should not be forced to wait months or years to receive their records from the VA so they can apply for disability benefits," Bart Stichman, co-founder and co-executive director of National Veterans Legal Services Program, said in a statement. [more]
Released 4/20/15 | Tags:
Legislative Hearing on: H.R. 675, H.R. 677, H.R. 732, H.R.800, H.R. 1067, H.R. 1331, H.R. 1379, H.R. 1414, H.R. 1569, and H.R. 1607 [more]
Released 4/14/15 | Tags: Testimony
A number of veterans organization are suing the Veterans Affairs Department over a new rule regarding disability claims. The rule only went into effect a week ago, but the lawsuit claims it's eliminated most informal VA claims, and limits the types of claims VA can adjudicate. One change means that letters written into VA no longer count as claims; now everything has to be on a standardized form. Ron Abrams is a former VA staff member, and now the joint executive director of the National Veterans Legal Services Program. He joined the Federal Drive with Tom Temin with more on the lawsuit and its ramifications. [more]
Released 4/13/15 | Tags: Veteran's Benefits
A rule by the Department of Veterans Affairs recently came into effect, which will end much of the informal claims process for VA disability benefits. The rule, according to a press release issued by the National Veterans Legal Services Program, became effective March 24, 2015, and limits the types of inferred claims VA will allow, leaving “injured and disabled veterans at a serious disadvantage when applying for VA disability compensation.” The NVLSP press release states that there are two aspects of the rule that are particularly important: First, the rule eliminates the right of a veteran to initiate the VA adjudication process by writing a plain letter to the VA seeking a specific benefit; and second, the VA will now severely limit the type of benefits that will be adjudicated when presented with a disability benefits claim. [more]
Released 4/8/15 | Tags:
Many veterans organizations claim the new VA forms required to file disability compensation claims “obliterated” the non-adversarial process VA is required to adhere to. Ron Abrams, head of NVLSP, stated: “This is the essence of the non-adversarial process VA is supposed to have,” he said. “VA is supposed to be a friend of the veteran. If they find something else in the file that helps vets, they point it out and take care of it. Now, they’ve obliterated that. This is now a system of VA against the veterans, and the veterans will be hurt.” [more]
Released 4/2/15 | Tags: